Justice League Odyssey #13 – Dan Abnett, Writer; Will Conrad, Cliff Richards, Artists; Rain Beredo, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 8/10
Ray: After a year of playing Hide and Seek with Darkseid, it turns out what this Justice League Odyssey, a troubled series, actually needed was to upend everything and drop three of the four main characters, as done in Justice League Odyssey #13.
When we last left off, Cyborg, Azrael, and Starfire had been fully converted into thralls of Darkseid, the villain sealed off the Ghost Sector from the rest of the universe in an attempt to become its God and survive the coming doom, and Jessica Cruz made a last-ditch attempt to stop him only to be killed by the Omega Effect.
Fandom was not pleased at her apparent death, but given that the next issue was titled “Afterlife”, it seemed unlikely to stick. At the start of this issue, we pick up not with any of the heroes but with an oddball team consisting of a masked space warrior, an alien scientist – and Dex-Starr, making the rounds and being a little ball of rage like always. They pick up what they think are heroes from the Ghost Sector – and get Blackfire, a mysterious black cube, and Jessica Cruz’s still-smoking body.
It’s definitely a morbid way to begin the issue, but Blackfire’s bickering with Dex-Star is highly entertaining. Then, as the squad is debating their next move, Jessica Cruz suddenly resurrects and seems to be almost fully healed thanks to the infusion of Omega Energy she got. Her ring is gone, but it may have been absorbed by her somehow. A lot going on here as we’re introduced to several new characters – who may or may not be on the side of the angels – and a Para-Angel army invades and hits the spaceship as Darkseid makes his move.
Big reveals about Jessica’s new powers round out the issue, which is probably the most entertaining one of the series. It feels more like a Jessica Cruz comic than it has in a while, and the other three leads never quite clicked as protagonists in a space story. I’m hoping refocusing the story around Jess will give it a burst of energy as it enters its second year.
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
